Songs and Other Things

Performer: Tom Verlaine
Engineer: Fred E. Smith; Larry 7; Mario Salvati; Patrick A. Derivaz; Wayne Dorell...
Distributor: Alternative Dis. Alliance

Notes: Personnel: Tom Verlaine (vocals, guitar); Jay Dee Daugherty, Louis Appel, Graham Hawthorne (drums). Recording information: New York, NY. For his first album of songs (as opposed to instrumentals) since 1990's THE WONDER, legendary Television guitarist Tom Verlaine brings to bear both his considerable instrumental prowess and his skill as a composer of otherworldly geek-rock. There's a straight-up rock feel here not too dissimilar from Television, but just as often, Verlaine indulges in the kind of film-noir atmospherics that dominated his '92 instrumental album WARM AND COOL. The moodier sound meshes well with Verlaine's cryptic lyrical approach, and supports the deeper, less adenoidal turn his voice has taken over the years. Verlaine doesn't need to prove anything at this point, so there are no over-the-top guitar-whiz histrionics, just 14 tracks worth of a master craftsman gorgeously applying the varied colors of his palette.

Uncut (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[E]vidence of Verlaine's undimmed greatness. There's something so distinctive about his weirdly strangulated voice and brittle, keening guitar notes that time only seems to strengthen." Magnet (p.112) - "[H]is touch is looser, the chords blithely complex, and the songs are driven by a new sense of playfulness." The Wire (p.67) - "[The album] gradually gives up its secrets after a number of plays, like a series of puzzles..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.104) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "There's not shortage of Verlaine trademarks...shimmering Fender arpeggios...sinuous lead lines...[and] 'aw shucks' vocals..."

After the demise of the much-lauded band Television at the end of the 1970s, guitarist and songwriter Tom Verlaine wasted no time in launching a productive solo career, regularly releasing albums of challenging but tuneful songs marked by honest vocals and the distinctive gleam of his guitar playing. By the '90s, his music had taken a turn towards tangled and edgy instrumentals. Occasionally Verlaine reunites with Television, or tries his hand at production, but for the most part is content to play, write, and record at his own pace.

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